Economy

• Thursday, September 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  EC forecasts recession ahead for UK, Spain and Germany

  

  United Kingdom is forecasted to fall into recession by the end of the year alongside Spain and Germany after a “sharper than expected” slowdown, the European Commission has predicted.

• Thursday, September 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  UN underlines bumper crops and potential of Russia and Ukraine

  A senior United Nations food agency official on Thursday predicted a bumper harvest of cereal crops in Russia and Ukraine for this year and said the region possesses significant untapped agricultural potential.

• Thursday, September 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Record crude prices swell US trade deficit in July

  

  Rising oil prices swelled the United States trade deficit in July to its widest level since March 2007, according to the latest government figures. The trade deficit widened to 62.2 billion US dollars from an upwardly revised estimate of 58.84 billion in June.

• Thursday, September 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Helicopter sales soar with mining industry in Chile

  

  Helicopter sales in Chile are going up, up, up. Due to the dramatic growth of the mining and energy sectors, the country has tripled its sales of the aircrafts in the past three years. In 2005, the main provider of helicopters in the country sold only six units, while this year they have already sold 22.

• Thursday, September 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Uruguay enjoys solid situation, boasts Minister Astori

  

  Uruguayan Economy minister Danilo Astori who next week steps down to return to his Senate bench and hopefully to become the presidential candidate for the ruling coalition, said that a balanced budget “has no political color be it left or right” and anticipated that this will be a record growth year for the economy.

• Thursday, September 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Peru tries to cool fastest growing regional economy

  

  The Peruvian Central Bank raised on Thursday its benchmark interest rate to 6.5% from 6.25%, the latest of several measures to curb inflation. The announcement followed a release from the Ministry of Economy and Finance saying the economy had expanded in July at an estimated 8.9% boosted y by domestic demand and construction industry.

• Wednesday, September 10th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazilian economy expanded 6% in the first half of 2008

  

  Brazil's economy expanded 6.1% in the second quarter of 2008 compared to the same period a year ago and 1.6% over the previous quarter, according to the latest release from the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute, IBGE. Similarly in the first half of this year Brazil's GDP increased 6% compared to the same period a year ago.

• Wednesday, September 10th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  China trade surplus hits new record in August: 28.7 b. USD

  China's trade surplus hit a monthly record of 28.7 billion US dollars in August, despite weaker world demand. Other official data showed consumer inflation in the month decreased considerably to a 14 month low of 4.9%.

• Wednesday, September 10th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Norway blacklists Rio Tinto over environment concerns

  

  Norway is banning its sovereign wealth fund from investing in Anglo-Australian mining firm Rio Tinto because of environmental concerns. The country's Finance minister Kirsten Halvorsen said the 875 million US dollars stake held by the country's “oil fund” would be sold.

• Wednesday, September 10th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Lehman almost KO and no “white knight” on sight

  

  Troubled US investment bank Lehman Brothers has reported a massive third quarter net loss and outlined radical plans to strengthen its finances.